OPENING TIP
* Lafayette plays its penultimate game of the regular-season slate on Wednesday evening, traveling to Washington, D.C. for a battle between two teams fighting for a home game in the quarterfinal round of the Patriot League Tournament. The Leopards are eyeing a sweep of the season series, winning on Feb. 1 in Easton by an 82-70 margin.

* Senior co-captain Myles Cherry used 10 rebounds in the loss to Loyola on Sunday to become the 27th player in program history to amass 500 rebounds in his career. Cherry has chosen his senior year to put up the best production of his career, averaging 10.2 points and 7.0 rebounds per game this season. The Newcastle, Australia native has also added the three-pointer to his game, drilling eight triples in his final campaign.

LAST TIME OUT
The future is bright for Lafayette with the performances of its two freshmen in a tight 70-68 loss to Loyola on Sunday afternoon in Kirby Sports Center. Leo O'Boyle and Neal Quinn combined for 38 of the Leopards' 68 points, setting new season-highs with 21 and 17 points respectively.

The Leopards erased a four-point deficit at halftime in less than two minutes, but Loyola quickly responded and extended its lead to as many as 12 with 8:05 to play. Trailing by nine with 1:55 left, the Leopards made a run, using a three-point play from Quinn and two threes from senior Kyle Stout and O'Boyle to pull within a bucket with 24 seconds on the clock. Stout's triple attempt to tie missed left, though, and Andrew Kostecka's free throw all but sealed it for the visitors.

The loss dropped the Maroon and White to 17-10 on the year and 9-7 in Patriot League play, while Loyola improved to 15-14 and 7-9 in conference action.

O'Boyle's 21 points came on 5-of-8 from beyond the arc, his second five-three performance of the conference slate. Quinn did his damage in the paint, hitting on 7-of-12 to go with four rebounds and two blocks.

Senior co-captains Myles Cherry and Lukas Jarrett were both close to double-doubles on the day, combining for 16 points and 18 rebounds on the block. Junior E.J. Stephens made up for a tough shooting day with four boards, four assists, two steals and a block to follow up his 27-point outing in the win over Boston U. on Feb. 19.

LAST MEETING
Junior Justin Jaworski was almost impossible to stop at Kirby Sports Center on Feb. 1, netting a career-high 32 points, including a from-the-logo dagger with 2:21 to play, to power Lafayette past American by a final of 82-70.

Down 61-52 with 6:22 to play, Jaworski went on a tear as his four-point play on a three through a foul from the right corner began a game-closing run of 30-9 for the Maroon and White. Fourteen of those 30 came at the hands of the junior co-captain who hit an even bigger shot late.

Up 67-65 with 2:21 on the game clock and the shot clock ticking down under 10, he pulled up from the second 'T' in the Lafayette center-court logo and barely hit the rim as the ball went through the cylinder, a dagger to American's hopes of a comeback. On the ensuing possession, senior co-captain Lukas Jarrett emphatically sent back a falling-away layup attempt from American's Sa'eed Nelson, the preseason Patriot League Player of the Year, as Lafayette free throws finished it off with an 82-70 final.

Jaworski's career night was his second 30-point outing of the season after dropping 31 on Saint Joseph's on Dec. 3 in Philadelphia. Classmate E.J. Stephens was another Leopard that accompanied Jaworski effectively on Saturday afternoon, finishing with 18 points on 10-of-11 from the foul line. Stephens added four assists, three rebounds and a steal while drawing six fouls, a game-high in the aggressiveness statistic.

Jarrett did pretty much everything else for the Maroon and White, coming up one field goal shy of a double-double with eight points and a game-high 11 rebounds. The senior dished out four assists and blocked four shots.

PLAYOFF PUSH
Lafayette heads into the final two games of the regular season in fifth in the Patriot League standings, securing a first-round bye in the Patriot League Tournament. The Leopards can finish as high as second and as low as sixth based on the results of the next two contests.

The league's top-four seeds earn a home game in the quarterfinal round. The Leopards are battling with American and Army for those third and fourth spots as Colgate and Boston U. have already clinched two of the four, with Colgate earning regular-season-champion laurels and the top seed.

THE SKINNY ON THE EAGLES
American has been one of the few teams in the Patriot League this season that has performed about as expected. The Eagles, picked to finish third in the Patriot League Preseason Poll, currently sit right in that position with two games to play at 15-14 overall and 10-6 in conference action. The home side has hit a rough patch recently, falling in two of their last three following a three-game win streak through the second week of February.

Preseason Patriot League Player of the Year Sa'eed Nelson is set to break American's all-time scoring record on Wednesday night, needing just two points to accomplish the feat. Nelsons second in the league in scoring this season at 18.3 points per game and does his damage on the defensive end as well, leading the league at 2.7 steals per outing. Jamir Harris is the only other Eagle averaging double-figure scoring at 10.6 points per night, while Stacy Beckton, Jr. and Mark Gasperini added 9.9 and 9.0 points per game, respectively.

A WINNING CAMPAIGN
Lafayette's victory over Holy Cross on Feb. 15 gave the Maroon and White their 16th win of the 2019-20 season, securing a winning season. The Leopards have not recorded a winning record since their championship run in 2014-15 when that team went 20-13 on its way to the NCAA Tournament. Lafayette went 9-9 in Patriot League action that year and the Leopards have not finished with a regular-season conference mark above .500 since going 10-4 in the 2012-13 campaign.

CHERRY WINDEX
Senior co-captain Myles Cherry is moving quickly up the ranks of Lafayette's all-time career rebounders. Cherry currently sits at 500 boards over his four seasons on College Hill, becoming the 27th player in program history to reach the 500-board mark with 10 on Sunday. Classmate Lukas Jarrett is also among Lafayette's best career rebounders with 428 during his time in Easton.